Wireless emergency safety equipment could save lives—if signals are
transmitted reliably. But few performance standards exist. Now, tests at
the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are helping
to ensure that alarm beacons for firefighters and other emergency
responders will operate reliably in the presence of other wireless
devices.﻿

NIST is providing technical support for industry consensus standards by
developing test methods to evaluate how well these devices work under
realistic conditions. The latest NIST study focused on interference
between Personal Alert Safety Systems (PASS) with wireless alarm
capability, and radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems. The
methods developed in the study can test interference in other wireless
devices such as radios, hands-free cell phone headsets, local area
networks, and urban search and rescue robots. | Read the full NIST "Tech Beat" story